Games Inbox: Nintendo Wii U, Zen Pinball 2 and Fallout 3

The afternoon Inbox tells Nintendo they need to get people excited about the Wii U and praises the makers of Zen Pinball 2. To add your own comments email us at
gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk.

Wii U – what secrets does it hide?

Nintendo should start doing somethingNintendo needs to start creating a buzz about the Wii U don’t you think? The most important thing will be successfully communicating the concept, how it is different from the Wii and how it will work with it. Adverts of people playing the games, as they did with the Wii and DS, are very good at this.

People derided the Ant and Dec ones but in my opinion they were perfect product pitching. Off-beat, dark themes, as Sony pioneered for a different audience with the PS1, will not look like a ‘safe’ comfortable buy for the family that enjoys Wii Sports.

I am looking forward to more Nintendo innovation as its competetitors only serve up more of the same. That said, as a retro gamer I shall be buying the new super-slim PS3; incredible value especially with Bluray.Owen Pile

Nintendo bumbagI wasn’t thinking too much about the Wii U really, but this week I heard that Nintendo are bringing it to the Play Expo in Manchester in October. I’m going there too so I’m looking forward to getting my mitts on it! I wonder how big it is. Could I fit one in my bumbag? (That’s a joke, before anyone calls the cops!) To be serious for once though, it’ll be pretty cool to see one in the flesh and maybe even have a play on it too.

p.s If any other GC folks are at Play Expo then I’ll see you there.

p.p.s Double Dragon Neon is ace! I was grinning like a loon when the intro music kicked in! It brings back some great memories.skipsville 1977 (gamertag)

Right on the pinI’d just like to congratulate Zen on their approach to the release of Zen Pinball 2 and all the DLC to go with it. In this age of on-line passes, withheld content, pre-order bonuses and expensive DLC it’s refreshing to see a company release a game in a way that seems to actually benefit the customer and I hope it turns out to be successful for them.

They’re offering Zen Pinball 2 for free and if you own any tables already through Marvel Pinball and Zen Pinball then they’re automatically added in to the new version. I got Marvel Pinball free through Playstation Plus and it still added all the tables to the new version for me. You also get the game for both PS3 and Vita and your save files and leader boards are synchronised between the two. There are 25 different tables available for the game as a mixture of bundles and individual tables and you can download a trial for all of them and then just pay to activate the ones you want, without even having to exit the game.

All of this makes it feel like I’m in control of what I buy for the game and how I play it, which is great and is at odds with the draconian policies currently being tried out by some of the other publishers to make us play and access the games in the ways they want. It is very tempting though to buy more tables each time you play, which I guess is the point…Stever (PSN id)

Great falloutAfter a seven hour session that lasted into the wee small hours, and until daylight started creeping in through the blinds I can now name Fallout 3 as my favourite game of this generation. What a corker. And yes, whilst most readers will be saying ‘tell us something we dont know’ …Ive just got to say to anyone who has not yet played Fallout 3, do so immediately. Even though I’m four years late, even today in 2012… Its an absolute stunner!

What puzzles me though is how this ground-breaking title ever slipped under my radar? I kind of pride myself on being a selective and knowledgeable video game player who doesn’t really need to play every game released, or every game that takes my fancy. Careful selection saves me money and time, and indeed patience in not buying games on release day ensures that I never run out of games to play no matter how bad the annual summer games drought drags on for!

So I come back to Fallout 3, and what possible reason could I figure for missing out on this title four years ago?

Yes, that’s it! It was, unfortunately for me, released right in the middle of my Call of Duty… Prestige addiction, and that’s what it was… an addiction, that I’m now thankfully over.

Now before you all start on at me in the underbox, I’m not going to start knocking Call of Duty, I’ve done far too much of that in the past, it is a value for money title that does give the buyer plenty of replay value and if you venture online and if you can resist the map packs, Its an even more value for money title. But online play and the prestiging system is worryingly addictive.

Call of Duty was like a double edged sword to me really? Yes, It kept me entertained at a relatively low cost but in the long run I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot of games in the process. Since quitting Call of Duty however I have indeed discovered lots of older games that I can now buy for buttons, Fallout 3 being an absolute stonker in the value-for-money department has I picked it up for £1.50 from an online retailer. I’ve also discovered many other games since quitting… Demons Souls, Super Mario Galaxy 1+2, Red Dead Redemption to name but a few, and all games I missed out on because of Activision’s behemoth.

Thinking back now, I actually remember a friend (and fellow Cod player) warning me off Fallout 3 back in 2008. He had bought the game and took it straight back to the shop on the same day after only a short play, comparing the gunplay unfairly to Call of Duty and then coming to a hasty conclusion about the rest of the game, and foolishly, I took his word on it.

How wrong can one person be about a particular game?

I’ve no doubt if he could have got over his unfair comparisons he would have loved it, and I wonder how many more wrongly compare games in this manner?

So what’s my point in this letter? I suppose I’m saying a big ‘Thanks’ to Activision… for making a game so addictive that for five years

I scarcely looked at another title. Of course I’m being slightly sarcastic, but as I wander around the wastelands of Fallout 3’s brilliant post-apocalyptic Washington D.C, filtering through the rubble for ammo and pressure cookers… I can’t help but think If I’ve missed out on any other games of this quality during my Call of Duty gaming Blackout? …mmm?PsnId RedDotDinx

He’s oldIs it just me or do gaming preferences change with age? I am approaching the big 5-0 but have been gaming since the days of the first Binatone pong machine. I’ve seen all sorts of systems come and go and I must admit to being a graphics junkie in my younger days. The wow factor of screenshots from the next gen machines was so tempting that I often sold my trusty computer/console just to be an early adopter of the latest, greatest game machine available.

As time has moved on I have found that graphics and sound don’t always equal great gameplay and I seem to be moving into the area of retro gaming. I can now appreciate the time and effort put into design and playability rather than using processing power to produce photo-realistic graphics and a fancy soundtrack. I would love to hear some ‘older’ gamers opinions, maybe you could run a hot topic on the subject?Steve Richardson

I want to be scaredHi GC, I was thinking (dangerous I know) why hasn’t there been a decent haunted house game? All I can think of are games like Project Zero, or those point ‘n’ click games like Scratches. I would like a developer to make a game with the atmosphere of say Silent Hill 2, but be more like a conventional haunted house movie; The Amytiville Horror comes to mind. There is probably a load of haunted house type of games that I have totally overlooked. If you guys, or any readers could point me in the right direction, I would be grateful, as it’s my favourite genre of movie and books.Avant Aklu

Wouldn’t it be greatRe: DMR. Ever since I saw Death Race, I thought wouldn’t it be great, a game with more realistic physics, such as PGR Racing, Forza and Gran Tourismo. With machine guns & other customisable bits on the cars, such as stronger tyres & armour, so it takes a while for weapons to wear you down.The racing is quite close in those kind of games, as opposed to say Burnout, so the combat would be much more visceral & satisfying as you get up close to the car up front & start chewing it up with machine gun fire.Spartas EdgePS. It’s nice to see some campaign DLC content for a change with Ghost Recon-Future Soldier’s Raven Strike

Could it be magicRe: Killingchristar and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. Was I the only one who always assumed Jayce’s dad was Saw-Boss somehow? It would make a very cool game though. As would Visionaries, another 80s animation classic. I think they might be beyond Inbox Magic’s powers though.Martin Smith

This week’s Hot TopicWith the release date and price for the Wii U now revealed the subject for this week’s Inbox is pretty obvious: will you be buying one and if not why not?The Wii U is out on November 30 and the Basic model costs around £250 and the Premium around £300. Do you think that’s good value for money, and if not how cheap would the Wii U have to be for you to consider it? If price isn’t an issue what else would Nintendo have to do to convince you?What do you think of the games that have been announced so far and what do you think of the launch line-up in particular? Are there are any specific franchises or sequels you’re waiting for before you buy the console, and have announcements such as Bayonetta 2 and Black Ops II swayed your opinion?E-mail your comments to:gamecentral@ukmetro.co.ukThe small printNew Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.